Activision Blizzard’s Chief Executive Calls for Further Game Console Price-Cuts

Robert Kotick, the chief executive officer of video game published Activision Blizzard, said in an interview that it was crucial for makers of video game consoles to further slash prices of their devices to enable further growth of the industry amid global economic crisis. In addition, Mr. Kotick promised to tailor more games for Nintendo’s Wii system.

“The price on platforms today has still not gotten down to mass-market price points and I think when you are in the economic circumstances that the world has found itself in, there really is a difference between a $199 game system and a $299 game system,” said Mr. Kotick in an interview with Reuters news-agency.

At present Microsoft Corp. sells its Xbox 360 Arcade system for $199, Nintendo Wii is priced at $249 and Sony PlayStation 3 is available for $399. Mr. Kotick specifically noted that he did not expect further hardware price reductions even though he believed that this would boost sales of both hardware and software since people tend to see more value in video games these days. The chief executive officer of one of the world’s largest video game publishers did not say whether game titles price-cuts were also needed.

This is not the first time when Mr. Kotick calls hardware developers to slash prices of their consoles to attract new gamers.

The head of Activision Blizzard also expressed for the first time that priorities in video game development have somewhat shifted to Nintendo Wii, which is the best selling new-generation video game system. If earlier the Nintendo platform was considered as an “extension” of the PlayStation and Xbox businesses, then now the publisher is interested in tailor made the content for the console that became popular thanks to its motion-sensing game controller.

“In the past we approached the Wii as an extension of what we were doing on PlayStation and the Xbox and I think we can do a better job of creating original content for the Wii, and I think you'll see more of that this year,” Mr. Kotick promised.